Little Hours
by garuye
Summary: Elise comes home late from her study group. Short one-shot about a mushier moment from their college days.


A/N: So, before you put hate or "I don't ship this but..." in my email, consider not doing that  
As probably always, Sonic's meant to be read with Jason Griffith's voice

this is a super short and self-indulgent college drabble, bye

* * *

Elise pulled off her winter coat and set it on their makeshift hook rack, shutting the apartment door silently. A glance to the time on the microwave said it was 2AM, but she had to look back at it a few times to remember through the fog that was several consecutive cans of mountain dew. Sonic must be asleep already. She'd ask how he did on that test later.

With a suffering huff, one exhausted redhead dragged herself to the bathroom to clean up, noting that gravity seemed to have a particularly strong grip on her tired ass tonight. But she'd forgotten to shower this morning, so if she didn't do it now, they'd probably both wake up in a gross heap of grease. Luckily (if college had taught her anything thus far), no shower was enough to wake her dead-to-the-world boyfriend after test-studying week.

Elise groaned, shutting the door behind her and walking over to scrutinize her reflection. Her hair was an unholy rat's nest, since she'd thrown it into a sloppy ponytail earlier and hadn't fussed with the details of readjusting it. Deep, dark, and very telling circles hung beneath her eyelids. The reminder of sleep made her yawn and look away. Gotta wash up first, she told herself, wanting nothing more than to pass out on the spot. Maybe she'd just lay back and take a bath instead…

No, no. No. Do you really want to pass out in the tub again, Miss Elise the Third? No. You do not.

Her internal dialogue clashed with itself for all of ten seconds before she shook out of it and turned on the shower.

* * *

By the time she was done cleaning up and spending more time under the hot stream of water than she would have in a conscious state, the redhead was slightly more awake. Not enough to stop sleep from immediately being a thing as soon as she hit those sheets, but enough that she could wander into the kitchen to get her half of the house chores over with really quick.

School life got so hectic, they often didn't have the chance to really pick up after themselves. With Sonic literally studying rocket science, and Elise working on her public administration degree, it could probably be considered worse here than at their friends' places.

Well. A quick once-over told her the kitchen would be clean with some counter wipes and stuff. There weren't a lot of dishes in the sink, since they basically lived on cup noodles at this point. Aaaand they would need to deal with the garbage eventually, but… Man, not now.

Pulling the designated rag from where it hung on the fridge handle, she silently got to work.

* * *

Okay, so. Maybe she wound up doing more than half the chores. Sonic had been studying really hard all week, and he was super stressed about his test today, so sue her for wanting him to wake up to a clean apartment. Vacuuming could be saved for later, since she was pretty sure those bitches are louder than running showers, and she didn't really fancy getting caught in the act. Of cleaning, that is. It's a surprise.

Cleaning was mostly throwing out stray soda cans and tidying up the papers and random articles of clothes lying about. They really needed to get down to the laundromat soon, come to think of it. Or, she did at least. Sonic didn't wear a lot more than gloves and socks, so.

No, but he took her sweaters sometimes. That counted for something. She wasn't the sole cost of their laundry funds.

Elise shook her head, realizing her mind was lagging behind her body. Whatever. So long as the place looks nice at first glance when he gets up. It's the first impression that makes or breaks your early morning mood, after all.

Stretching freckled arms high above her head (and getting a real nice back pop out of it), the redhead made some unworldly noise, shut off the lights, and shuffled off to her bedroom. Sonic was curled up on the open side of her bed, blankets huddled tight around his body. He was more sensitive to the cold than she was; if she weren't currently the most exhausted creature on the planet she would giggle.

But this was the norm, and she was little more animated than a walking corpse, so the pleasantries were forgone. Elise swiftly shrugged out of her shirt and sweatpants, traipsing around briefly to find that pair of shorts she usually threw somewhere around here and giving up promptly.

A solid 5-second yawn made her almost lose her balance, so the woman hurriedly crawled beside her boyfriend and wrestled beneath the covers. A voice somewhere in the back of her mind nagged curiously about the time, but her phone was forgotten on the living room table, and honestly her fate had been sealed as soon as the blankets were up.

She rolled over and threw an arm over Sonic (who usually slept in her room when he wanted company), finally shutting her eyes and drifting off.

* * *

She woke to the feeling of fingers running through her hair and hummed, curling into herself. Blue eyes slid open leisurely as a quiet chuckle graced her ears, and she scrunched up her nose playfully at the culprit. It was adorable and they both knew it.

Sonic grinned, pulling his girlfriend in closer and touching their noses. His fond and mostly-rested expression convinced Elise that the definite most appropriate action here was to snuggle into him, and so snuggle she did.

"'Morning, Sunshine."

"What time is it?" The redhead mumbled into his chest. She dug her left arm under his side to fulfill her groggy hug parameters and squeezed him close. He must have been out of bed earlier, as she realized he wasn't even under the blankets.

Sonic giggled as a ticklish spot was brushed.

"It's a little after 3... How late were you up last night?"

She only shrugged.

The hedgehog rested his chin on her head and ran a gentle hand over her back, humming in understanding.

They lapsed into comfortable silence, Sonic ghosting his hand up and down, and her getting steadily drowsier. Elise was _nearly_ lost to dreamland again when he softly spoke up.

"Thanks for cleaning up the apartment, by the way. It looks great." There was an unspoken 'you didn't have to' hiding between some of those words, but the gratitude was there, so that's what she'd focus on.

The redhead breathed in and reluctantly pulled away. Sonic must have been pretty comfy, because he only sat up a handful of seconds after Elise did. She yawned and stretched her limbs out, before leaning down and pressing a quick kiss to his cheek.

"Aw, Anything for you, you know. How'd that test go?"

The hedgehog's face fell slightly and she grimaced. Before an appropriate consolation could even come to mind though, he was laughing and tackling her in a hug.

"Nah, just kidding! I think it went great, but we won't know for sure 'til Pickle grades them. I think I guessed on like five questions... but those were educated guesses."

Still a little not-awake, the redhead had to right herself and sift through the words before any kind of reacting was possible. At which point she rolled her eyes and ruffled his quills. "Well, that's great. Good work, you!"

Both giggled in response, Sonic dragging himself off her lap and grabbing at her hands.

"C'mon. I went out and got some food today, since you did so much last night."

Elise opened her mouth to comment on how the cleaning was supposed to be because _he'd_ worked so hard, but huffed fondly instead. Oh, well. Food treats them both, so what does it matter?

"Alright," she laughed. "But can you close the blinds for me? If I get up now I'll flash the world."

Sonic gave a hum the equivalent of 'true' and hopped off the side of the bed to tug at the cords. Struggled with it for a second, because this thing hates the world, but goal accomplished.

Several minutes of rummaging around trying to remember where she'd left her bra, and the two were lounging back on the couch, munching on some good-ass Burger Ring sandwiches. Which objectively shouldn't have been so good, but a life of ramen and PB&J made anything tasty.

Their sticker-decorated laptop sat on the coffee table in front of them, playing Netflix since they didn't own a TV.

"Hey," Sonic spoke, long after they'd finished shoveling food into their stomachs, and leaned his head on her shoulder. "Love you."

Elise smiled and glanced down at her boyfriend, who was still watching the ghost show with interest (albeit a little dopily, with that kissable face of his). She turned her attention back as well, but not without snuggling a little closer. "Love you too."


End file.
